Sanders Blog

12th June, 2011

A quiet day I won’t bore you with. Newspaper delivered on time. Breakfast, gardening, a wonderful swim for nearly an hour. Salad for lunch outside with apple cake for ‘afters’ made by Pauline in no time at all. This wasn’t made for me. It was made for Stavros’ mother, Margarita, who appeared outside our house, pipping away in her car at about 11.30 am. When Pauline went down to see her, she had two dishes covered with foil. One contained Fasolia (bean soup) and the other contained Banzari y skordalia (beetroot with garlic sauce). To repay her kindness, Pauline quickly knocked up an apple upsidedown cake and took her some on the way to swimming.

The wine we had with salad sent me to sleep in the afternoon. To be honest, I would have fallen asleep without it. The pills I take for my blood pressure make me feel tired. I woke up to find Pauline had cleaned the windows and got her sewing machine out to turn up her trousers. Like her Mum, she must be shrinking. We had to have chicken for dinner in the evening to make sure there were scraps for the cats. I must say, they seem to love tarragon.

We have sixteen weeks left on the island.

13th June, 2011

A little cooler today – 25C/77F – and it felt quite chilly. It didn’t stop us going swimming though. We haven’t missed a day since June 1st. Another incentive came when I, unexpectedly, weighed myself in the middle of the morning and found I had lost one stone in weight over the past two months.

To those of you who have followed my nonsense over the past 129 weeks, you will be aware that I love to be forward-planned. Yesterday, I thought I would count how many weeks we had been on the island – 8 – and how many we had left this year – 16. I woke in the night thinking, I’ve only got sixteen weeks to book hotels for our return journey. This afternoon, I started to look for a couple of hotels for the return journey. I found one just outside Lake Como:

The next hotel will be in the Champagne region of France so I’m going to spend time and do that one at the weekend. We are off to Athens for a shopping trip tomorrow. We will return on Thursday evening after Pauline’s hair appointment.

14th June, 2011

A very hot day. We are up early and, after breakfast, I spend two hours watering all the plants so that they can get through nearly three days without me. At 1.30 pm, we drive down to the port, park our car and walk to the already docking Speedrunner.

By 5.30 pm, we were off the boat and spilling in to the turmoil of Piraeus. We took a taxi to Athens. We had a brilliant, Romanian, woman driver who got us there quickly and cheaply. We bought a carton of milk from the periptero near by and Pauline made a cup of tea.

Peripteros are open all day long and sell most everyday needs from cigarettes & postcards to bottled water and chewing gum.

Later we went out to eat at a roadside taverna in the backstreets. Five or six tables scattered across the pavement next to an open air car park, a building renovation and a cross roads is not somewhere most visitors to Athens would choose but after twenty five years, we know it is a top restaurant. As we are sitting there eating Kolokithokeftethes (courgette balls with mint and oregano), tstasiki (yoghurt, garlic & mint), bakalaros y skordalia (salt cod with garlic sauce), cars and bikes screech past, tourist arrive with guide books in hand – Yes, this is the restaurant – and Greeks walk home from work. I wish I had carried my camera to show you. We walked home via our favourite chocolatiers and bought a selection for the evening.

15th June, 2011

We got up at 7.00 am and, after a shower and cup of tea, went down to the most huge buffet breakfast of fresh orange juice and a pot of coffee, bacon, sausage and scambled eggs, fresh fruit and yoghurt and croissants & jam. This was the last normal act of the day.

We went down to the Hotel Lobby and asked them get us a taxi to Piraeus Street – the Leroy Merlin store (a French/Greek B&Q). The taxi driver said he could get us there but he wasn’t sure we could get back to our hotel because the protesters would be encircling Syndagma where our hotel is because they were trying to prevent MPs getting to Parliament to pass the austerity budget. In the event, he was nearly right.

At Leroy Merlin, we bought a garden strimmer, a garden furniture set of coffee table, two chairs, a two seat bench, some plant food and other small items which will be delivered in the next few days.

We tried to buy a new fridge freezer from Kotsovolos (owned by Dixons) but the model we really wanted with an iced drinks dispenser was out of stock so we decided to wait. We went outside and hailed a cab. The driver told us he couldn’t take us to our hotel because the rioters/police had closed the roads. He took us to the nearest Metro where we spent an hour or two fighting with hundreds of others trying to get on the tube to Monastiraki station from where we walked up Ermou Street to our Hotel. As we got closer to Syndagma we could smell and then see the smoke from the Finance Ministry which had been set alight. Fighting was openly going on between protestors and police. Protestors (probably professional anarchists) had come equipped with crow bars to lever up the centuries old paving stones to smash into pieces big enough to hurl at the police. As we drank cool white wine and watched from our balcony, hot and harassed police ducked bricks and fists hour upon hour in the name of democracy.

16th June, 2011

All is unravelling here. Papandreou is attempting to form a new cabinet and to carry on in Government. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the support of the people and this will prove fatal.

Meanwhile to the important things of life. We have had another huge breakfast and Pauline has gone off to have her hair cut. I am relaxing with the Greek news and my Blog. At 12,00 pm we will check out and get a taxi down to Piraeus where we will get on Zante Ferries Korais bound fo home (sorry, Sifnos).

Unfortunately, being a ferry, The Korais will take five and a half hours and we will arrive on Sifnos just after 8.00 pm but that doesn’t matter.

17th June, 2011

Actually, the journey was delightful. I read the newspaper and kept an eye on the televisions scattered around the walls of the ship’s lounge. The Greek government was unravelling in front of our very eyes and Papandreou, having offered to resign, decided he was essential but he would sacrifice his cabinet – particularly, Papacontantinou, the Finance Minister – and would build a new one immediately. Unfortunately, the preferred candidate, the former Deputy of the European Bank, declined to take part so Papandreou appointed his rival, Evangelos Venizelos, who has no financial experience. This looks disastrous but France and Germany are so desperate for the Euro region not to unravel that they can make anything work.

We have felt tired all day today. We put it down to the travelling over the previous three days. The temperature is 27C/81F. The sea was pleasant and we had a good swim. I picked a handful of courgettes and of radishes which we had with our salad. I watered everything and then collapsed like an old man to rest.

5th June, 2011

The cat family which has adopted us left us a present in the Garage today. As we drove back from swimming and into the garage, the male cat ran out. As Pauline got out of the car, she found an irridescent length of rope with blood dripping from either end. It was a headless and tailess snake. Not just a snake but one of the most dangerous types found in the Greek countryside. I had to move it before it became too smelly.

6th June, 2011

The temperature is a humid, mid-80s. I’m doing lots of watering of the veg. garden but it is beginning to pay dividends. The First Early potatoes are already flowering. The courgettes are fruiting energetically. I even picked some small, sweet ones with deliciously big flowers this morning.

Went up to the Germanos shop to increase my Cosmote internet contract from 5Gb to 10Gb. The increase only costs about €10.00 per month but allows me to leave the internet on non-stop without worrying about additional charges. We then went on to the supermarket and, while we were there, we asked about transportation of goods from Athens/Piraeus to the island in readiness for our shopping trip to Athens next week. We have been given the contacts for a company called METAFORIKI SIFNOU AGGELAS .

We went on to have a wonderful swim from an almost deserted beach and then I cooked Lamb Kleftiko for lunch/dinner at about 4.00 pm. We have got into the routine, now, of tea & toast at 7.30 am, swimming at 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm, eating our main meal at around 4.00 pm and then just fruit salad and coffee in the evening.

7th June, 2011

People often ask us if we get bored on our Greek island. Why would we not prefer to spend our money visiting different places? That is usually because they have a totally different view of what we are doing compared with us. We never consider that we are ‘on holiday’ and haven’t done so for quite a long time. We live in Greece. We are part of a community with whom we share a life. We are as much ‘on holiday’ when we visit England as when we are in Greece. When you own a property, land in another country, your view of it is totally different to the here today, gone tomorrow, tourist.

8th June, 2011

Yesterday we went shopping. We went to the Hardware shop. It is a posh, new outfit with most things one could want. We bought teak oil for the patio furniture. It needs to be done twice a year in this sun. We bought varnish for the garden benches. We went on to the garden centre. This is a bit more home spun but very useful just the same. We bought an expensive huge pot and another geranium to put in it. I bought some more grow bags of potting compost and, although I have grown my own sage, tarragon, rosemary and thyme, I hadn’t got any mint. We eat a lot of lamb and wanted to make mint sauce. The garden centre had three different types of mint including the standard one we see most commonly in England. The owner was very keen to point out his knowledge of mint so I had to indulge him before I bought our plant.

As we went down to swim today, the car showed 31C/88F.

9th June, 2011

This morning we went for a drive over the island. For the first time ever, Pauline did some driving. She has NEVER, in all our time in Greece, driven in Greece. I have been suffering with my sciatic nerve and the pain is particularly prevalent when I am driving. We have been talking about Pauline getting her confidence up driving on the right just in case she is required to take charge at some time. Pauline is a better driver than me and certainly more careful. That’s why I don’t let her drive normally.

Fantastic swim today. The air temperature was 28C/83F. We had lovely waves and warm, crystal clear water. We came back and cooked pork chop, peppers, onions and potatoes. It was delicious. It was so delicious that our adopted cats appeared on the scene and, eventually, were given the scraps along with a carton of milk and water.

10th June, 2011

This morning has dawned beautifully again. We now have a routine which serves me well. We get up between 7.00 – 7.30 am. Pauline makes the tea while I open up all the bedroom shutters, nets and windows to air the bedroom and let the sun lick its way round the walls. Tea and toast from homemade bread and raspberry jam while we watch the BBC News. At 8.00 am, I put on the Radio 4 Today programme which is just starting at 6.00 am in UK. By 8.30 am Greece / 6.30 am UK, The Daily Telegraph has arrived on the Kindle and I read and listen for about an hour. Long before I’ve finished, Pauline is itching to get on with the day. Today, for example, she was outside varnishing the garden benches while I was reading. By 10.30 am I try to have the vegetables watered and we are ready to go out. Today, we went to visit the Transport company – Aggelas & Sons – which we had been advised of earlier.

The old man with the grey beard had the same beard but jet black when we first came to Sifnos more than 25 years ago. He is retired now and his sons run the company. They don’t speak a word of English but I had anticipated that and done directions to our house in English, in Greek and in pictures. It was the pictures that swung it I think. The family have five or six huge lorries and a depot in Piraeus. We will shop in Leroy Merlin for furniture and garden equipment, at Kotsovolos for electrical goods and they will be delivered by the stores to the depot in Piraeus. Aggelas & Sons will pick it all up from the depot and deliver it to our house on the island. This is why everything is so much more expensive on an island. The transportation cost are quite high.

11th June, 2011

Wonderful swimming in warm water. A few more people on the beach because it’s the weekend. Phoned Ruth tonight and had a nice conversation. Ruth sounds really happy with her new apartment although she hasn’t managed to sell her house yet. They will just have to sit tight and not give in to the Estate Agents’ demands to lower their price. It will happen in the end.

29th May, 2011

Although I am in deep mourning after last night, it cannot last for long. The long, hot days of Summer have begun. The weather here looks settled for some time to come. We will not now see rain until October. Every morning, for the next four months I will open the bedroom shutters at 7.30 am to clear blue skies, hot sun and the smell of thyme and oregano drifting on the air. Noticeably, the tourists began to arrive this weekend. Today, people are in the sea and sunbathing on the beach. We have set Wednesday – June 1st – for our start to swimming.

Those of you still working and, particularly, in white collar jobs will recognise very clearly the next observations. It is over two years since Pauline & I felt stress. Before that, we were permanently stressed. At the end of a school day, our heads were exhausted with stress. At the end of a school week, we would go to Pauline’s Mum’s flat and sit immobilised with the tiredness of stress. Particularly in the last few years as the school got harder and more uncomfortable to work in, we would go to her flat on a Friday evening and just slum, not talking. The tiredness of this type of stress is so different from physical tiredness. Working hard in the garden and feeling shattered at the end, muscles aching on a Saturday night was a delight compared with mental stress fatigue.

Today, stress-free for two years, we ate a delighful lunch of fish and salad washed down with chilled Italian white wine outside in the sunshine and, after coffee, took a drive up from our house over the mountain and right across the island, leaving the port of Kamares far behind.

30th May, 2011

It is a hot day and we spent the rest of it reading the Sunday paper, cleaning outside the house and chilling out. We were going to have a barbecue but couldn’t be bothered. The stress of these decisions!

31st May, 2011

Although I said I wouldn’t talk about it any more, the temperatures are ratcheting up each day. Today we are around 27C/80F. Pauline was making bread and then we had a barbecue both of which raised the temperature.

Talking about raised temperatures, the Greeks are still occupying the public squares in Athens (Syndagma), Thessaloniki and Patras after the examples of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the Spanish protests. They are infuriated that ‘their property’ is being sold off. It all sounds very 80s England.

1st June, 2011

Can you believe it? June already!

A glorious day. We went for our first swim. At first we thought the water was too cold but, within minutes, we didn’t want to get out. Fortunately, the temperature had decided it was swimming day and raised the temperature to 31C/90F. Swimming was absolutely delightful. We drove home the 650 metres from the beach to our house, showered and then shared crab & tuna salad with Italian white wine. We ate this under the pergola in wonderful warmth with a light, cooling breeze playing on our faces.

I don’t know if it was the swimming, the wine or the fresh air but I fell asleep in my chair after and woke up at 5.00 pm. We had a cup of tea and then walked up our land to inspect the peach trees which are doing remarkably well thanks to the recent rains. In the past couple of days, a cat which has just had babies seems to have adopted us. We can’t eat enough chicken to satisfy it. Pauline has been reduced to cutting down large yoghurt pots to fill with milk and water. We haven’t had a cat for years.

I’m not thinking of having a heart attack but I’ve given to worrying about what to do if I was. We have a Medical Centre staffed by very young doctors and it is about 6 kilometres away. In the event of a heart attack, I would have to be flown to Athens by helicopter which takes 20 minutes each way and then have to be driven to the hospital through Athens traffic. We have created an ‘In the Event of an Emergency’ sheet and it will be displayed in the study along with copies in our bags and the car.

2nd June, 2011

Gorgeously enjoyable day. Pauline is painting the balcony railings because that is what she enjoys doing. I’m watering plants, pricking out seedlings and sowing new ones because that is what I enjoy doing. We have now been officially adopted by an island cat which has just given birth to two little ones somewhere in our garden.

Only left our property to swim at 1.30 pm today. Water was wonderful today and we really enjoyed a good swim – only half way across the bay and back today. We’ll try the full thing tomorrow.

3rd June, 2011

Temperature reaches 33C/91F today. When we went to swim, the tide had turned and refreshed the water in the bay which meant it was rather colder to get in but, when we got going, the swimming was great and we managed right across the bay and back which is what we were doing throughout last year.

The Greek ‘Settlement’ has been announced which suggests the money will be there for the next 2-3 years. The problem is that the population are becoming increasingly strident in their opposition. Every day, 100 – 15,000 Greeks protest in Syndagma Square shouting “OKI” – NO – to the austerity measures and definitely “OKI” to the sell off of State Services – trains, ports, electricity, telephones, banks, etc.

4th June, 2011

We’ve woken up to a hot and sultry day. We have had almost no breeze all week. It was as if someone flicked the SUMMER switch last weekend. The weather changed to settled, hot and cloudless. The tourists started to arrive. Each day there are one or two on the beach when we go down to swim. Pauline has gone out early at the front of the house before the sun gets high enough to make painting impossible. I’m at the back of the house in the sun watering my courgettes. I know I have a raw deal but I suffer in silence.

22nd May, 2011

We are experiencing some lovely weather at the moment. It is warm = 23-4C / 72-3F – but not oppressive. Today we actually got round to cleaning the car for the first time since we arrived. I used to rely on Stavros’ car cleaner or pay to go to the petrol station and have the owner’s family clean it but last year I bought a pressure washer and now can do it at home.

After that, it was Sunday papers, lunch on the patio and then the Premiership relegation battle. Nova Satellite TV showed six matches all at the same time. I watched Man. Utd. for a little while but it was soon clear that Blackpool were out of their depth. I wanted Wolves to stay up after waiting so long to get up. I watched them for a while and was shocked as they went 3-0 down. I had a quick look at West Ham but I wanted them to go down anyway. I switched to Birmingham who I never thought deserved to go down this season and I am sorry that they have. I looked at Wigan who I thought probably deserved to go down. The other match shown was the Liverpool one but that didn’t have any importance.

23rd May, 2011

Overcast but warm today. We had to go to the Bank and Georgis, one of the clerks who I have known since we first went to Sifnos, 26 years ago, took photocopies of our new passports. Nothing can be done in Greece without your Identity Number if you are Greek or passport if you are not. That means everything from taking out a broadband contract, paying for satellite TV or buying tiles for your patio. The other thing you must do is call yourself something you are not. I am John Richard Eric Sanders and Pauline is Pauline Philip Sanders. Then Georgis reached under the counter and produced a copied of a book which, essentially, is a Greek language History of Sifnos. He hadn’t written it but he and his brother had paid for it to be published.

The National Bank of Greece illustrates all that is wrong with Greece at the moment. We went in to withdraw some cash – for that you go to Mikailis. He noted that our passport had changed since last October – for that we had to go to Georgis to update on their records. We also wanted to update our automatic payment threshold for the Electricity Company to draw on our Bank Account. For that we had to go to a young girl we hadn’t met before to update that record. Her name was Chrissopigi and when we gave her our papers, she said, “I remember now, SANDERS JOHN.” My husband, Nikos, was your electrician when your house was built.”

24th May, 2011

A gorgeous, sunny morning but rain is forecast over the next two or three days. The garden is really coming on well. It is at the maintenance stage. We are now up to cleaning the walls and tiled exterior, windows and shutters from the ravages of the winter, the red, mountain dust and the rain. The pressure washer has come in handy again for cleaning the tiled patio. Pauline is cleaning windows and shutters. There is a real pleasure in maintaining our property and having the time to keep it looking good.

25th May, 2011

Woke up before 7.00 am to the sounds of thunder. Opened the shutters to flashes of lightning.The time between the two got increasingly short until the inevitable happened. Joyous rain began to fall. No garden watering today. The rain became increasingly heavy on the flat roof and we could hear it gurgling down into our massive water storage chamber under the house. Everywhere was dark and grey as you can see from the photograph below.

The storm continued to rumble round the mountains for most of the morning. One minute the sun was out and the next, heavy clouds fell over the peaks announced by thunder and lightning and followed by strong bursts of rain.The garden screamed, ‘Thank you’. The water tank screamed, ‘Thank you’. I screamed, ‘Thank you’. Pauline screamed, ‘Get off my clean windows’.

We resolved to do indoor things this morning. Pauline is making bread. I am replying to emails and writing a couple of letters. This afternoon, we hope to go out to tour the island’s potteries – of which there are about ten – to buy a big pot to complete our patio set. We are looking for one like this:

By lunchtime, the skies are pure blue and the sun is giving us 25C/77F. We decided to drive down to the Blackpool of Sifnos – Platis Gialos (pronounced Plattiss Yalos). We call it Blackpool because it shamelessly caters for tourists with lots of Rooms to Rent, Restaurants and nothing else. We parked our car under the palm trees and walked on to the beach. We were surprised to see some people in the sea. They were mainly children but a white haired Granny like Ruth ventured in and seemed to cope so there might be hope for me. Pauline tested the water with her hands and declared it ready so swimming officially starts on Monday – depending on the weather.

26th May, 2011

Lovely morning. After breakfast, we do a few jobs outside, continuing to clean the red, mountain dust from the white, patio tiles and from the window frames and shutters. You have to pace yourselves when you’re retired, as Ruth will attest. As we were working, the island ambulance rushed to the port and then back up to the capital, Apollonia. This is not an everyday event and we were left wondering what had happened.

Found some old friends from College days by accident while on the internet. Julie and Nigel Folds were Art students while I was doing English but I found myself in Digs with Nigel who introduced me to the delights of red wine and Leonard Cohen. I borrowed Nigel’s bike to cycle to Harrogate Station from Ripon, some 14 miles wearing my suit at 5.00 am in July 1972 to get to Ruth’s wedding. I hadn’t ridden a bike for ten years before and I never rode one again. Nigel and Julie went to teach in Rochester and then Bingley. They split up shortly after that and Nigel became a Budhist monk somewhere in North Yorkshire. That is the last I heard of them until someone told me Julie had a facebook page. I found it and her living in Bridlington. She was exhibiting photographs. Then I found Nigel, also living in Bridlington, exhibiting paintings. Obviously, back together. Nigel & Julie are pictured below:

27th May, 2011

I took Pauline up to the Post Office this morning. As she got out of the car, I shouted, “Have you got your umbrella?” She looked at me as If I was bonkers. Two minutes later, she was running back to the car in pouring rain. Later, the woodman, Kostas, and his wife called. We had asked him to measure up for a solid roof for our pergola over the dining room patio. He brought his wife because she speaks perfect English and Kostas doesn’t speak any. We shared a glass of wine. They brought their 15 year old son, Giannis, who looked about 10 year’s old. We are told that we should go and look at the wood choices tomorrow at his wood store.

28th May, 2011

Today, we have been up to the woodman’s shop to finalise the arrangements. It will be done in about two weeks. We don’t know how much it will cost. As usual in Greece, you don’t get an estimate, which is why you choose honest tradespeople. As soon we arrived in the workshop, Kostas reached into a little fridge and brought out a bottle of raki and some goats cheese. He sent his son out for a fresh loaf of bread at the local shop. Soon he has cutting up bread, cheese and pouring raki. He found some taramasalata and we were standing around the wood shavings eating an early lunch. This is how they get away without providing an estimate!

Pauline spoke to her sister, Phyllis, who has been wonderful in supervising the ‘snagging list’ for our new flat. Phyllis and Colin went round the other day to check and said most things had been done. She also said the gardens and general environs were looking lovely and being well managed. This made us feel good because we really haven’t had time to properly assess our position. This afternoon, we will finish cleaning the patio and the windows before settling down for the Big Match.

15 May, 2011

Glorious Summer’s day. Not a cloud in the sky. Almost too hot to garden. We both had to wear hats. There is no breeze and the temperature is reaching 26C/78F. The house has been open to the world today to keep cool. The big news of the day, of course, is the Head of the IMF, Strauss-Kahn being arrested in US on rape charges. The Greeks feel  totally vindicated. They hate him with a passion and all he stands for. He is on Greek TV News bulletins all day every day and has been since the financial crisis broke. He is (was) the Leader of the Troika – International Monetary Fund, EEC and European Bank – who have tormented Greece for the past couple of years and, in their eyes, caused so much unjustified suffering to people who don’t deserve it. The fact that their main antagonist is actually a rapist just about confirms their view that they are unjustly oppressed like the Hotel maid. This will run and run.

The football, to bring us back down to earth had all the hallmarks of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’. Chelsea were poor and Spurs managed to maintain their dignity. West Ham could have produced a magic trick but, instead, decided to hand one to Wigan.

For those who are anxiously following the gardening reports in this Blog, I continue to prick out salad seedlings and succession sow new ones. Tomorrow will be annual and perennial herbs – Flat Leaved Parsley, Tarragon, Sage and Mint. The Sweet Basil plants will be ready to plant out as will the Aubergines. The first potatoes are already showing through and the Peppers and Courgettes doing well.

The lemons are holding up. Another photo of them:

As predicted, Straus-Kahn dominates morning news on Greek television. If he can break the rules, why can’t we?, the Greeks say.

16th May, 2011

Another wonderful day. Glorious sunshine, blue skies. The countryside around is still green and beautiful. We are coming to the point when I will have to stop recording the weather unless we get particular highs or lows because “Another wonderful day. Glorious sunshine, blue skies.” Will become the norm for the next four months.

The day has been really enjoyable. We haven’t been out of our grounds but really enjoyed our gardening. We put in six large leaved Basil (Vasili) plants today and four strong Aubergines. More garden has been cleared. Lovely, home-made lunch of chicken and salad for lunch. This afternoon, joy of joys, our 3G internet service was reactivated. At last we can work from our Study at home. Life is just wonderful! AND ……I’ve just picked up Ruth’s email from LIVE.

On Saturday May 10th we will be moving to our new address.

We wish Ruth & Kevan 50 years of happiness at their new address.

17th May, 2011

Got up this morning to find a scuffle going on in the log burning stove. As I went to the glass door, two gorgeous, little, silver grey birds the size of wrens tweeted at me, Let us out! Who could argue with that. We had been meaning to cover the chimney with mesh for weeks but at least we had cleaned the fire out. Having just got out of bed, I was stark naked. I opened all the windows and doors, held a large towel up to the stove door and Pauline opened it. Good as gold the two little birds flew straight out of the window, free to play another day.

Quite a start to the morning but, now we have the internet, we can listen to Radio 4. At 8.00 am we put on the 6.00 am Today programme. What joy! When we first moved into this house, we were bought a pot – a Grecian Urn – as a present. Today, I got round to using it. After that, we went up the outside steps, which are really just decorative nowadays, with Pauline to stop all future birds playing in our chimney.

18th May, 2011

As you know, Dear Reader, I am as strange as the day is long. Late last evening, after going out to dinner, Pauline & I watched an enjoyable but emotional film about families, loves and relationships. I cried buckets as is usual now. Suddenly, as we went to bed, it came to me. If one of us died, we don’t have good photographs of the other. We photograph everything but ourselves. I told Pauline we were going to do something about that immediately. I opened a new folder called Posterity Photographs and took the first pictures. Here are Beauty & the Beast.

19th May, 2011

Woke up in the early hours of the morning to the sound of thunder & lightning and pouring rain. Got up with Pauline to watch the sound & light show across the bay. The noise over the roof meant it took some time to get back to sleep and we finally got up feeling tired after 8.00am this morning.

We went up to see the woodman, Kostas. He is the best on the island and his wife speaks perfect English which is really helpful. We want a more permanent cover to our pergola which, traditionally, in Greece is covered with bamboo matting but it is starting to fall out of favour. Bamboo attracts bees and over a few years of hot sun dries out and falls apart. We want thick, wooden slats painted white at and fixed closely together with only small gaps in between. It is important to have some gaps because the strength of the wind could pull a solid roof completely off and lift the pergola legs out of the concrete at the same time. The new roof will look a bit like this:

20th May, 2011

The weather is set fair to be mid-70Fs and lovely and sunny for the next week. Before we go out gardening, Pauline is making sausages this morning. They are one of the things you can’t buy here. A few years ago, Pauline received her Long Service Award from Oldham LA. She bought a couple of kilos of fatty pork yesterday. One of the things she bought with her Award was a meat mincer and sausage stuffer (As you do!) and we haven’t really had a lot of time to use it. We’ve brought extra big, Hog Skins with us and today is the day to stuff them. I am chief stuffer and taster.

Pauline made 5lbs of sausages. We had sausages for tea and they were absolutely wonderful. We are going to try Pork, Apple, Sage & Onion next time.

21st May, 2011

We have been here on the island for exactly five weeks. We filled the car up with petrol in Athens just before we got on the ferry and we have filled it up once on the island. Mind you, one filling did cost it €80.00. We will not need to fill up again for at least another week. A tank of petrol every three weeks is just amazing and illustrates how small the island is. Nowhere is very far away.

Received an email from Jonathan Kelly today. He is in Boston, Masachusetts and has been for 35 years. I have revived our friendship and have been communicating with him since Mum died. Unfortunately, I will miss his visit to England.

A scorching, hot day today. We have virtually completed the first round of garden clearing and vegetable sowing/planting. We have:

5 x rows of potatoes
2 x rows of shallots
3 x rows of onions
4 x courgette plants
6 x Sweet Basil plants
2 x rows of Rocket
2 x rows of Cut & Come Again Salad plants
4 x Aubergine plants
4 x rows of Salad/Spring Onions
2 x rows of Flat Leaved Parsley
2 x rows of French Beans

We have so many lemons on our trees, Pauline has decided to make Lemon Marmalade.

8th May, 2011

We’ve now been on the island for three weeks and away from UK for a month. You have to do it to understand that news from England, for me, becomes more not less important the longer we have been away. That is why I go to such lengths to get hold of newspapers. In the early days, it was queuing for hours outside some little shack, they laughingly called a newsagency, to get the only copy of ‘The Times’ which had been flown to Athens from London, transported down to Piraeus, put on a boat for five or so hours, picked up by van from the harbourside and dumped outside the shack where it sat until the owner deigned to turn up to open the ‘shop’. Even then, there would be an interminably long wait while this man, who couldn’t read anything but Greek, tried to decide if it was German or English and what price it should be sold at even though it was the same price every day. Each individual ‘foreign paper’ which would only be unpacked after the Greek papers had already been set out, had to be ticked off on the manifest as Greeks constantly interrupted to pay for their papers. I might have been waiting outside for two hours for the one copy of the day old Times but activity outside the shack will have alerted like-minded tourists like sharks to blood and Greek shopkeepers know no concept of queuing. They serve the first hand with money. Pauline & I got very skilled in ‘working’ the newspaper scene but still lost out on occasions. Then I would mooch around abjectly for hours wondering what the chattering classes in England were talking about, what had happened politically, where was that huge fire or that enormous motorway crash, that murder, etc.. Of course, over time, it has improved and now that we are on the island for longer periods than tourists, the shack man who has genuinely been upgraded to the newsagent, is prepared to save the newspaper for me in some nod of preferential treatment to an ‘almost resident’ but the papers are still at least one day out of date and in the Spring and Autumn months there may be a couple of days a week with no boat at all so the papers are even more out of date by the time I could get them.

Imagine, therefore, my delight when I drink my first cup of tea at 7.30 am to open the Kindle and find today’s paper has been delivered. It is revolutionary and wonderful. Nowadays, I have migrated to The Telegraph because of its better Business coverage. I take the political slant with a huge pinch of salt which makes me much more sceptical of the reporting and encourages me to read everything with a critical eye. The Telegraph is incredibly slanted in favour of Tory politics, conservative mores and monarchy. This slant is much easier to ‘read out’ than that of The Times so I am comfortable with my switch. Pauline tells me that the newsagent would charge €3.70 (Mon – Fri), €4.40 (Sat) & €5.00 (Sun). This works out at almost exactly £100.00 per month. The Telegraph delivered to the Kindle costs me £9.90 per month and its delivery is free. You will find it hard to understand my delight and incredulity at having this access on the morning of publication. Of course, nowadays, we have BBC News on Television and CNN plus Greek News channels but there is no substitute for a newspaper.

The other amazing thing about the change the Kindle has brought to our lives is on the internet. So far, we have been unable to get a telephone line in our house. Because of that, we have had to buy a 3G dongle from Cosmote. Reception is ok but not good and there are times when it is slow. Also, I am limited to 5Gb per month which I go close to all the time. It costs me about €35.00 per month which is not great but neither is the service. The Kindle is delivered over something called ‘Whispernet’ – an internet delivery service which works perfectly on this island. It always has strong signals unlike Cosmote. It is possible to web browse on the Kindle although it is a little cramped and in monochrome but it is an absolutely free service – all for the initial layout of about £120.00. An Apple i-pad would be useless to me here. I have no wi-fi and 3G charges would be exorbitant if I could get a connection. Kindle are currently developing and i-pad alternative which, if it uses Whispernet, would be ideal. In the meantime, I am grateful for huge mercies. I’m off to read the Sunday paper on Sunday.

Wonderful match between Wolves and West Brom this afternoon which I was pleased to see Wolves win. The second match was a little bit more prosaic but Stoke beat Arsenal well. The third game of the day was a total humiliation of Chelsea by Man Utd. What a delight to watch. Even so, I thought United’s goalkeeper was unbelievable. They couldn’t win at Wembley, could they???

9th May, 2011

Today we have planned our first trip to Athens since arriving.  In five weeks, it will be ten weeks since Pauline had her hair cut and, being a top model, she needs to keep her standards up. We have established a hairdresser for her opposite The Electra Palace Hotel. She used them once before. Today we used Skype to contact the Hotel and book two nights – June 14th and 15th – negotiating a preferential rate for ‘regular customers’ and then booked a hair appointment for Pauline with a ‘Top Stylist’ (for a top model) on Thursday 16th in the morning.  We will leave Sifnos on a ferry at around 11.50 am and get to Piraeus at 5.20 pm. On Wednesday, we will take a taxi to the French B&Q –  Leroy Merlin – to look at one or two things including sun lounger chairs then go over the road to an electrical store, Kotsovolos (owned by Dixons) to look at a new fridge/freezer.  After Pauline’s hair appointment at 10.00 am on Thursday, we will check out of the hotel and take the train back down to Piraeus for a 2.30 pm hydrofoil which will get us back to Sifnos for 5.30 pm. That will be an enjoyable little jaunt.

In the middle of the morning, we went off to see our friends at their home which they have almost built with their bare hands from the raw materials on their land. The walls of the house are built using stone dug out of the land it stands on. The furniture is designed and built out of wood from the trees on their land. They are strongly tied to the philosophy of sympathy with the natural materials and the place in which they are living. It is a common philosophy on this island and I think across Greece that building should be in sympathy with nature and not intrusive upon it or in stark contrast to it. Although I do not subscribe to this philosophy myself, I found their house delightful. They have invited us back on Thursday afternoon for a barbecue. Pauline will make a lemon meringue pie using our lemons to take with us.

10th May, 2011

Today we are going to see an accountant. His profession as Accountant is pronounced Loyeestees but is just the word we use in English – Logistics. We have virtually no payments apart from electricity and food, Satellite TV and internet connection to make in Greece. There is no income tax for us, no Council tax (That is payed by shopkeepers for everyone.) All police, street lighting, refuse clearance, road maintenance, etc is free to us. We don’t have to pay for water because we have our own source. In the past three or four years, Greece has introduced a property tax which costs us about €150.00 per year but the form is so complicated, everyone has to have a loyeestees to fill it out and submit it to the Government.

What an interesting experience that was. We were told to go to the second house on the right on the road down to Kastro. That’s what we did but it turned out to be an architect. We were a bit embarrassed about disturbing him but he was very pleasant, spoke a little English and was on his way to the accountant’s office so he took us there himself. It turns out that we have no more tax to pay which is wonderful. Also, after six years of asking, our electricity supply may become ‘official’ within the next twelve months or so. If they move any faster, we’ll never keep up!

After Lamb Filo Parcels & Greek Salad with a beer outside in the sunshine, we felt very tired and had a snooze while watching a Greek Cookery programme. Soon it was 4.00 pm and we thought we had better do some gardening. Our pepper plants are ready for planting out – about 10” high. In fact one has already started fruiting. The planting method is to dig large holes, put well rotted manure that Apostolis delivered from his farm two years ago at the bottom followed by some commercial compost and garden soil. The plant must be sunk in a ‘bowl’ shape of soil so that watering doesn’t run off but goes straight down to the roots before the sun can evaporate it. We hope that younger readers will not become too impatient with our techniques. Gardening is a specialism for those who have entered the retirement home of life. We have time but the pace is slower. All things come to fruition if not rushed.

The world around is still smothered in wild flowers because of the rain. This time last year we were going through a heat wave and all vegetation had been burned off. The first photo shows the scene from our bedroom window. The other two are at the end of the garage.

11th May, 2011

Cool quiet day today. 20F and General Strike – No ferries, schools, Post Office, Banks, Hospitals, Trains, Buses, etc. The supermarket was open so we went shopping, read the newspaper and had lunch. After that, Pauline made bread and biscuits while I did some writing and some gardening. Heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow. We have been invited to a barbecue. We’ll see!

12th May, 2011

We woke to blue skies, fleecy, white clouds, a bit of a sharp breeze and a chilly temperature of 18C. I don’t think we will have heavy rain or any rain today. I go into the garden to water the plants as we will be out for most of the afternoon. Yesterday, the General Strike saw thousands of workers in the streets of Athens protesting with rocks to throw at the police who retaliated with tear gas. On the surface, it doesn’t appear to get any better. However, last year I spoke to a young man about the economic situation. He was full of left wing, communist bravado. The troubles were all of the making of the rich elite but those who had to pay were the poor, little people like him.They would not. They would get rid of this Government and refuse to pay these debts. I came away thinking, ‘There is no hope.’. A few days ago – nearly a year on – I spoke to the same young man again and was surprised how his view had moderated. ‘This is still a big problem but we must get out of it. I don’t know how – perhaps we will all have to pay. We must do it together.’ Maybe there will be enough Greeks like him to make the difference. Unfortunately, Samaras, the Leader of the Opposition New Democracy Party appears to be cultivating cheap popularity by chiming with the protesters.

Before we went to our friends’ house for the barbecue, I picked three, fat and juicy lemons and Pauline made a Lemon Meringue Pie. It looked fantastic. We had to carry it rather gingerly in the car along with a couple of bottles of wine. When we got there, the barbecue was a beautiful, brick built bread/pizza oven with open motorised, spit driven barbecue area attached. Four chickens had been turning on the spit for hours before we arrived. Salad was hurriedly made, rusk bread chopped up and a long table covered in white cloth. We had three, lovely, homely hours eating, drinking and discussing the politics of Greece.

One of the things that we came away from our barbecue discussions with was a much better understanding of why the Greeks are so intransigent. You may have read that many Greek Government employees receive more payments than there are months in the year. The thirteenth monthly salary has been expected and paid for years. This doesn’t play well in Europe but, as they pointed out, this was started by the Government as a way of not officially increasing wage rates. They paid an extra month’s salary for holiday pay. As he also pointed out, thirteen months pay in Greece was equal to eight or nine month’s pay in UK. In just the same way, the Greeks cheat on tax because of the frenzied and uncontrolled way the Government attempts to levy it. Tax inspectors will swoop on their restaurant three or four times a year and just arbitrarily demand a certain payment. If you ask, ‘Why?’, they say that they will stay for days and go through their books so they just pay. They don’t know where the money, paid in cash, is going. On one occasion, the radio was playing in the restaurant so the tax inspector demanded money for Royalties. When it was pointed out that all the people singing were now dead, the tax inspector threatened to investigate them further. In other words, they were arguing that a corrupt system was inevitably sucking them in. The trouble is, it doesn’t seem to be a way out of this.

13th May, 2011

We’ve had a really lazy day today and we both feel guilty. It is symptomatic of early retirement. We told ourselves that we must continue to have aims, ambitions, plans to achieve and, largely, we have. We wake at 7.00 am and are up by 7.30 am every day. We set ourselves tasks to get through just as we would at work. Over the past two years, so much has happened that it hasn’t been difficult to motivate ourselves. Today we had a apathetic day and we both feel that we have let ourselves down. Tomorrow we will try harder and do more before the football: the Man. Utd. game and then the Cup Final.Oh, Life is so tough!

14th May, 2011

Yesterday was a cool 21C/70F. Today is set to be a couple of degrees warmer.It is a lovely, sunny day with not a breath of wind. Readers will be pleased to hear that Peppers and Courgettes are growing well. Salad seedlings are developing as are Onions and Potatoes. About this time of year we start to panic about the enormity of work required to maintain two homes – clearing the garden, cleaning the windows, painting the gate, refreshing the walls, etc, etc, etc. We look at each other and say, ‘Shall we sell it?’ and then we analyse what actually has to be done, get our heads down and get on with it. After all, what else would we do? You know of the politician who accused his election opponent of going round stirring up apathy. I think he’s been here.

1st May, 2011

Happy May. Grey morning that got better as the day developed. Not warm – maximum 70F/21C. After breakfast of hot porridge, we did garden clearing until lunchtime. Not that lunch was anything more than a Greek Salad but I knew that the afternoon would be dominated by football. The seed potatoes and onions will have to go in over the next couple of days so that is the first task to clear for. The plants I bought – peppers, courgetttes and aubergines – and potted up are developing strongly. They will have to go out very soon to get the full growing season.

Although the day developed into a pleasantly warm and sunny one, I watched three or four football matches from Birmingham, from Liverpool, from Manchester City and from Arsenal and the weather looked wonderful with lovely, striped pitches bathed in strong sunlight surrounded by shirt sleeved crowds. I was reading in the paper that April has been the warmest in UK since 1765 and very nearly the driest. Here, it has been an exceptionally cold, wet Easter compared with at least the last ten.

2nd May, 2011

Up early to a lovely sunny day. Now we know why the Royal Honeymoon has been cancelled. A mission to get Bin Laden was announced this morning as having been successful. Amazing to see crowds screaming with delight about a wedding one day and about a death two days later. Neither will impact my life much. Got Mum on my mind quite a bit at the moment.I’ve got to get on with life. More garden clearing this morning and then off to the Post Office to see if we have any letters.

The Post Office in Sifnos – Taxidromeo – is the most pathetic in the known world. Nothing is sorted, nothing is delivered. Everything is piled up for people to queue up and go through themselves. You could take anyone’s post and they wouldn’t know. We asked a week ago if they had our back mail for the last six months. They went to the back of a dirty, untidy, old office and, within five minutes, came back to say Ochi/No. Today we tried again. This time we wrote cue cards with our address on. After twenty minutes, the girl came back with a pile of post, including a Christmas card from my friend, Caroline, in Saddleworth. We had confirmation of electricity bills which we have paid automatically by our Greek Bank. They are remarkably low considering everything we do uses electricity except for our log burning stove. The heating is electrical, underfloor. We have electricity for cooling through fans and air conditioning, cooking is electric and we dry clothes with a tumble dryer. €500.00 for six months seems quite good. The only piece of post we didn’t have was our house tax. This is newly introduced and costs us about €125.00 per year. Unfortunately, the form you have to submit is so complicated that we need an accountant to do it. We are going to get a visit from Stavros’ accountant who will submit the form for us.

3rd May

Summer has really arrived here. This is the second day that we don’t need the central heating. The daytime peak is 75F/24C but what is different about Greece, the night time temperature doesn’t now fall below 70F/21C. We have a small diurnal range, as they say. Our water pump has been sounding iffy so we sent for the plumber. We have a blocked tap and another that has come loose so we thought he could do everything in one go. The plumber is a massive man who is known as the strongest man on Sifnos but he seems to be able to curl his massive frame under toilets and into kitchen cabinets without trouble. He doesn’t speak a word of English so, when he arrived at lunchtime (2.00 pm), he looked at the job and mimed he would be back at 5.00 pm or around there, as he fluttered his hand from side to side. We did a couple of hours garden clearing and waited for the plumber. At 6.00 pm he appeared and within an hour had done all of the jobs. He didn’t want to be paid but we gave him €20.00 he went off happily.

Will Mourinho end up in jail again tonight like in the first leg? We’ll see.

Well, it was quite a good game but the result was predictable. I think United will be hard pushed to beat them.

Got a wonderful text from Ruth tonight. She called me a ‘Chump’ which is a lovely word that I haven’t heard for about 50 years but she’s probably right.

4th May, 2011

Off to the hardware shop this morning to buy a small piece of fine mesh wire netting. It is bird nesting time and last year  a little bird fell down our log burning stove chimney while investigating holes. We need to cover it temporarily because we can’t face the trauma of releasing little birds into our living room.The rest of the day will be spent gardening and sowing seeds. United’s match tonight should be a formality. Sunday is the big one. The hardware shop was busy but we managed to get a snippet of mesh to put over our stove pipe. We did some supermarket shopping = enough white fish for six meals, enough fresh chicken for about six meals and some fresh vegetables – broccoli, cauiflower, Cyprus potatoes. You learn when the ferries are in and when the new produce will be put out and to buy stuff in bulk and freeze it. We are expecting a General Strike soon that could affect everything. Talking about everything, we are expecting rolling petrol supply strikes soon which should be fun but could save us money because we are paying £1.57 per litre.

Man. Utd completely out played Shalke and now have to plot a way to beat Barcelona at Wembley. I don’t really fancy their chances.

5th May, 2011

Today has been a nice, warm, quiet day. We put in seed potatoes, seed onions and shallots.

We check our bank account regularly on the internet and today was pension day. While Teachers’ pay has been frozen since we left, our Teachers’ Pension has been rising with inflation. The increase is not great but it is better than working. Today our pension had risen by just over 3% which may only keep pace with inflation but is better then any working teacher is getting.

Thought you might like to see a picture of Sifnos in the Spring taken by my friend, Martin.

6th May, 2011

Woken up this morning and the weather has gone back to winter. It feels really cold and there are grey clouds above. The weather forecaster says it is a “phenomenon” and the bad weather is rolling round and round the Greek Islands not being able to escape. I know the feeling.

We’ve just heard that the threatened petrol strike is off. The Government ruled that it was ‘illegal’ and so everyone has continued to work. Simples.

7th May, 2011

The BBC is reporting today a rumour that Greece has floated the idea of leaving the Euro. It is the one thing that could really hurt us financially when we sell this property. It is hard to believe that the rest of Europe really want that because of the threats it would increase on Ireland, Portugal and Spain going the same way leading to the collapse of the great, European project.

24th April, 2011

Easter Sunday. Everywhere is closed apart from our minds. From midnight the island became alive with church bells ringing, fireworks shooting and bursting illumination across the mountains to major explosions blowing up Kamares beach with a white light flash that, after the delay, shook the very ground we stood on almost a kilometre away and boomed across the valley and rolled around the mountains for seconds afterwards. Greeks drove home to their houses from shaking hands and ritually greeting each other with: Christe elaison (Christ is risen.) to eat a midnight meat feast which they were supposed to be denying themselves for the past forty days. I can assure you they haven’t been but who really cares what Christmas is about or Easter? Pauline and I went outside on to our terrace to watch and listen to Greek frenzy of celebration and then escaped the freezing night air to drink a hot cup of tea before bed.

We got up very late this morning after going to bed late last night. It was almost 9.00 am before our tea and toast for breakfast. The Sunday Telegraph had been delivered to my Kindle. I wish I’d ordered The Times now. It might be less obsessed with Royalty and Weddings. I’m going to be sowing salad and bean seeds today and then I’ve got Arsenal v Bolton to look forward to. I’m relying on Ruth to come up trumps.

Of course, like all the best sisters, Ruth has done it for me again. Bolton beat Arsenal in the last few minutes and almost produced an impossible response from me – I began to feel sorry for Arsene Wenger.

It was lovely to be sitting in my Greek house and to receive texts from Ruth about the result. Thirty years ago, we queued up for half an hour to use one of the two telephones on the island to ring out of Greece only to find all international lines were busy. Now I can conduct a virtual conversation with a strange woman in Bolton from my lounge.

25th April, 2011

Easter Monday is going home day in Greece. All that fuss, all that preparation and all that excitement and, by Monday afternoon, the ferries are arriving to take them back to Athens and work (or striking) on Tuesday. It’s a bit like Christmas without Boxing Day.

We had a pleasant morning reading and baking bread as the sun streamed in. At 2.00 pm, we went down to Captain Andrea’s Fish Taverna for lunch. Captain Andrea is now dead. He was ‘The Man’ when we first came to Sifnos. His wife, Poppie, ran the restaurant like a military operation while he, having been out all night on the high seas, lounged around drinking coffee. Now his son, Andreas, who was only 10 when we first arrived, is Mayor of Sifnos. It is Andreas we have to cultivate to provide us with a telephone line because he also works for the telephone company.We had a lovely meal although, ironically, not of fish. Easter in Greece is a time for meat. We had Greek Salad, Tsatziki, Roast Mastello (goat) and potatoes. We washed it down with a litre of House Red and were then given Easter cake for our sweet.

Later in the evening, I watched an enjoyable match in which Man. City beat Blackburn. I would like to see City pushing United to new heights next year. I’ll be sorry to see Tevez go though.

26th April, 2011

Pleasant but chilly morning. Went up to the Supermarket for basic commodities and then came back to read the paper on the Kindle. Royal Wedding mania is beginning to dominate news media of all countries – The Daily Telegraph, The BBC, CNN and the Greek television. Even here, it will be difficult to avoid.

In addition to 100 Kg of ‘stuff’ that we posted by Parcelforce, we brought a hell of a lot as well. This included five, huge, pictures by Alma Tadema which we have no room for in our new apartment and which have a vaguely neo-Greek, neo-Classical, Mediterranean scene and would look fine in our Greek house. Each one is 3ft x 2ft -ish and will happily help to furnish our huge, stark, white Cycladic walls. Today, it was my job to put them up and, in years gone past, it would have taken me all day, agonising over spacing and heights, etc.. I’ve put so many up in the past ten years, I was amazed to find all five took me less than twenty minutes and I didn’t need a stiff drink in between.

Watched Man. Utd. totally embarrass the Germans – Schalke – and, just as the game finished, thunder & lightening began to spark round the mountains.

27th April, 2011

Torrential rain, thunder & lightening roared intermittently all night. It is not unheard of at this time of the year but it is not common. We lay in bed listening to the gallons of water fall on our flat roof and down into the massive water tank below. We will have soft water for some time to come.

Mum died exactly three years ago today. I still miss her dreadfully although, it is true to say that the pain is dulled somewhat. She is in my thoughts on a regular basis, in conversations, arguments in my head. I spent 57 years trying to shake off the yoke of her authority and the last three learning to live with my own. The sense of loss has only been exacerbated by the death of Pauline’s Mum which Pauline has borne with such stoicism set against my incontinent emotions. Neither of us feels anything exists beyond ourselves. We belong nowhere and to no one than each other. It is a strange and lonely feeling yet incredibly liberating. What to do with that freedom?

Well, tonight I’m going to watch Barcelona v Real Madrid in the next Champions League semi-final. I would like to see Real at Wembley. When the game actually came on TV, it was 10.00 pm in Greece which is really too late. It finished at nearly midnight and was a strangely tempestuous affair. It seemeed to me that Barcelona were mainly at fault but that might just be my perspective. Admittedly, Messi’s goal to bring 0-2 was very good.

I have decided to cheat in the garden a little this year. Instead of growing everything from seed, I have decided to buy some vegetable plants. I have red and green peppers, aubergines and courgettes in small plant form to give myself a head start and I’ve been potting them up this afternoon. It isn’t terribly warm and is still just under 70F but we have to get started. Unfortunately, the wet weather is holding up my clearing of the vegetable patch which still looks like this.

I am still having trouble with my internet connection and I am having to steal connections wherever I can until Cosmote reinstate my dongle. For that reason, don’t expect a perfect service for a little while.

28th April, 2011

A quiet, cool night but we awoke to the sound of torrential rain. We had to turn the central heating up. It is very dark. Rain clouds falling over the mountain. After porridge for breakfast, we decided it was just too horrible to go out and settled down to reading – the paper for me and her novel for Pauline.

When the rain has cleared and the sun has come out – about 1.00 pm – I turn to sowing seeds of salad, beetroot, herbs like tarragon and parsley. Pauline starts pulling up weeds in the veg. patch.

Watched a biopic of Edith Piaf this evening after dinner of pork and roast vegetables. What a hard life some people are born into and live. How lucky are we!

29th April, 2011

Amazingly, it didn’t rain last night but it was still cold this morning until the sun came up. Our underfloor heating is really repaying Pauline’s confidence in it. What do you think we did today. Absolutely opposed to religion and to Monarchy, we watched the Royal Wedding. Admittedly, there was little choice because it dominated BBC, CNN and every Greek Television channel you could find. I read my paper but kept an eye open for the TV. Even I was pleased to see the weather stayed dry on a big, British spectacular.

Went out for dinner tonight to the restaurant run by Panos & Rania and their serf (chef), Anna. In the winter (which they still consider it here), the menu is restricted.  We went to see Panos & Rania – lovely, genuine, island people who open their hearts and their homes to people in true Greek style. I, for example, am having problems re-establishing my internet provision. I am have to wait for a courier to bring a new contract from the provider, Cosmote, to me in Sifnos before I can be reconnected. There is an island, free service but it doesn’t reach our house. I have to drive down to the beach, sit in the car with my laptop to get a reasonable connection. Panos & Rania immediately said I could use theirs in the restaurant which “is never locked. It’s wireless; just walk in and use it any time.” That is how wonderfully genuine true Greeks are.

30th April, 2011

Today, we are off to the cafe to see Christos. He and his wife moved in to their new house over the winter and had their first baby. We are going to have a cup of coffee at the cafe and arrange to go up and see their new house and baby.

After that, we are off to the garden centre to buy a few more young plants – melons and field cucumbers hopefully. This afternoon I am going to do something very unusual – support Spurs. Even a draw against Chelsea would be alright.

17th April, 2011

Woke up to rain in Sifnos this morning. Still tired after the journey. Watched some good football on TV. Went out to eat at Simos restaurant. Went to bed very early.

18th April, 2011

Got up early, feeling so much more rested. Went up to the Post Office to find our 5 boxes containing 100 kilos of ‘stuff’ had arrived. Carried it back down to the house and spent the morning unpacking everything. Went out for lunch at 2.00 pm to Myropi restaurant. Lovely lunch and wine. Drove home and fell asleep. Later found that Sifnos had installed an island wide internet connection ‘free’ and we are just on the usable edge of it. It will probably be stretched to the limits when the tourists arrive but, for now, it is good. Feeling sorry for Ruth after Bolton’s game.

19th April, 2011

Up early to a freezing cold morning. Had to turn the underflooor heating up. Lots to do today. After breakfast of tea, toast and jam, we are off to the medical testing centre to have my Anti-coag. test. Then we are going to the mobile phone shop to cancel my dongle contract because Sifnos seems to be providing broadband free. Then, on to the ‘Garden Centre’ for growbags and to see if they have pepper, melon and tomato plants.

20th April, 2011

Bitterly cold, wet and with gale force winds. Our Underfloor heating has been on since we arrived. All day and all night. The only decision has been whether to turn it up from constant 21C / 70F to 24C / 76F or back down again depending on the time of day. It is amusing to read that UK is basking in a barbecue Summer in April and that the beaches are so busy. Here, we are wondering if people will arrive for Easter celebrations because the strong winds are threatening boat sailings. Each morning starts with toast and tea at around 7.30 am, the BBC News, the Greek News and opening up the Kindle to find that The daily Telegraph has been delivered. It has revolutionised life already. I don’t have to wait until the 10.30 am boat has come in – if it does. I don’t have to wait for the van to roll off the boat and up to the papershop. I don’t have to wait until all the Greek papers have been unpacked, checked and counted and put out on to the shelves. Particularly, I don’t have to buy a day-late newspaper. I don’t even have to pay nearly £3.00 for it. Now, I get today’s newspaper at 8.00 am (Greek Time) / 6.00 am (UK Time) and it cost me £10.00 per month for newspapers that would normally cost £92.00.

Watched Arsenal – Spurs match tonight. It was a classic. I absolutely loved it and, to add to the pleasure, Arsenal only got one point. Surely United can’t lose the title now.

21st April, 2011

It is still very cold and windy but, at least, it is drier. The Greeks regret this because we are looking at the last rains until October now. After morning routines have been gone through, we get a visit from Margharita – Stavros’ Mother – who has come up to the house with a bowl of freshly cooked Gigantis or big bean soup. She once cooked it for me and I over expressed my appreciation of the dish. Now, every time we return to the island, we regularly get a dish of Gigantis.

After Margharita has gone, we drive up to the supermarket which will be closed for three days over Easter and we have to make sure we have enough food. We buy a fresh chicken for tonight (2 kilos – €5.00), Cyprus potatoes and lots of vegetables. We go to the ‘Garden Centre’ to buy a plant fot Margharita for Easter. We get a hydrangea and some plants for us – a couple of large Pelargoniums, some seedling red peppers, courgettes and aubergines. I will grow some from seed but I would like to have a few producing early. We drive back down to Kamares to visit Apostolis & Moshca for lamb. We buy effectively a lamb at €7.50 per kilo. We buy about 5.5 kilos in two legs and two shoulders.We will have roast lamb with onions, garlic and the rosemary and thyme growing round the house. The cold lamb will be used to make filo pastry parcels.The first lamb joint will be for tomorrow. Today we have half a chicken still to eat. I cooked it with lemons from our trees. We must have about 50 lemons on the trees this Spring. Tempting though it is to pick them, they remain perfect on the trees for a long time so we pick them when we need them. Pauline made a lemon tart yesterday to eat with whipped cream. It only took three lemons and it was absolutely delicious. After dinner tonight, we watched a film. We have a DVD/VHS player hooked up to our TV and we have an entire library of unwatched films – recorded from TV or bought in UK – which we rarely watch. Tonight Pauline chose ‘In Her Shoes’ featuring Cameron Diaz & Shirley Maclaine. You might call it a girl’s film but I enjoyed it. It centred around a dysfunctional family so I felt I understood its terms of reference.

22nd April, 2011

Today is bright and breezy and about 70F which feels cool here. We have had an in-day. Pauline has made bread. I have been taking some photos for the Blog and the Website. Everywhere is green and carpeted with wild flowers. There has been so much rain in Greece this winter, everything has grown a lot – apart from the economy.

Greek TV is dominated by Easter or Pascha as they call it here. Mainly it is about the ‘Exodus’ or ‘leaving Athens’ for one’s island home to celebrate with family. The UK press is dominated by petrol prices for people going out on day trips. The Greek press has just the same preoccupation for those driving across Greece and getting on Ferries.The price of petrol on the island is about €1.80 or £1.58 per litre. When we left Woking, we were paying £1.31. The TV news is dominated by pictures of petrol stations, people queuing in cars on roads to get through the tolls, cars queuing at Piraeus to get on ferries and then by meat prices in the markets of Athens. Everybody has to spit roast a lamb or goat for Easter. The price has gone up again just as their wages are going down. There is huge unemployment in Greece now and they are really hurting.

23rd April, 2011

Greece is now officially closed. The last boats have left Piraeus. They will arrive at the island by 2.00 pm and there will be no more movement until Tuesday. The shops on the island close at 2.00 pm and will not re-open until Tuesday. Greek television will show church services and wall to wall Hollywood biblical blockbusters that will blaze away in the corner of every living room completely ignored by all concerned as they prepare to feast and forget the economy.We feel complete outsiders but not unhappy for that. This afternoon, I will watch three Premiership football matches starting with Man. Utd. – Everton. Rooooneeeyey!

10th April, 2011

The start of the next adventure. At 11.00 am, we are taking Phyllis & Colin down to our new apartment because we will need their help while we are away. We would like them to

• call occasionally to clear post.
• supervise the fitting of the burglar alarm which still hasn’t been done.
• check that the ‘snagging list’ has been completed.
• occasionally check security.

At 2.00 pm we are off to Ashford and the adventure really begins. We are off to the Tunnel at 5.00 am for a 6.20 am crossing. Hope the weather we are currently experiencing continues. Blue skies and gorgeous warm sunshine still prevail.

Having said goodbye to Phyllis & Colin and thanked them for all they have done for us over the past few months, we drove down to the Ashford Travelodge. It was even more average than it looks but we were only staying a few hours. We went to bed at 9.00 pm.

11th April, 2011

Up at 4.00 am and, after shower and a cup of tea, we drive down to The Tunnel. Plenty of people booked in for the 6.20 am shuttle which, in the nascent daylight, leaves right on time.

As we emerge from the darkness of the tunnel to the daylight, it is obviously another gorgeous day in prospect. We begin our journey at 8.00 am Central European Time. It is a new journey for us with new motorways and it soon proves to be so much better than the route we have taken from Zeebrugge for the past eleven years. France is warm, sunny and totally empty.

We stopped in a scruffy little town called Woippy near Metz for lunch and to raid the local Auchan for wine. We buy our first tranche of wine for the six months away. I had already warned Mastercard of this activity in case they took fright and stopped my card.

We drive on to Mulhouse and to the Holiday Inn we had booked there. It turned out to be fantastic with a lovely room and a brilliant restaurant.

12th April, 2011

After eating too much in the wonderful restaurant, we had quite a fitful sleep, got up quite early and, after a shower and a cup of tea, we were on the road before 9.00 am. Unfortunately, it started to rain as we left the hotel and went to the car. The first hour’s driving was not particularly pleasant with heavy rain, standing water, spray from the heavy lorries and narrowed lanes and roadworks across Switzerland. We have always hated Switzerland. They charge 35 euros vignette to drive on their motorway system which is in the worst condition in Europe and then they close half of it with orange ‘temporary’ lines which scarily narrow the lanes down to the width of a gnat’s whisker. The temporary markings have only been there for eleven years as far as we know. The only improvement is that we are now driving it in daylight so we can see what an eyesore it is.

Anyway, descending rapidly through the wet, snowless alps into Italy, the weather miraculously changed to clear blue skies and strong sun. The temperature rose to 27C / 81F and all was right with the world. We found our Holiday Inn in Parma – another lovely hotel although you wouldn’t think so from the outside.

We over ate in the wonderful restaurant and then staggered out to watch Man. Utd. humiliate Chelsea. I was so happy and full.

13th April, 2011

Had another fitful night because I had eaten too much but got up and had breakfast today. There is something about Italy makes you want to eat.

I had structured the journey so we did 7 hours on our first day, 5 hours on our second day and 3 hours on our third day. It all meant I could keep my speed in the 80 – 100 mph which is a little more comfortable and less likely to be picked up by local police. In fact, in the whole of our journey, we only saw a couple of police and they weren’t interested in us. We did the last three hours down to Ancona, drove to the check-in office and then on to the port dock. By 1.30 pm were were boarding Anek Lines ferry, Hellenic Spirit.

We were shown to our De-Luxe cabin which has a large porthole, air conditioning, television with Greek and Italian programmes,  a double bed, table and chairs, fridge with complimentary wine and bathroom with toilet and shower. Mrs Bouquet would have loved it!

We put our watches forward another hour to Eastern European Time and opened the wine. After we’d drunk it, we went to the restaurant for dinner. Our first Greek salad of the year is always the best. It accompanied pork fillet and potatoes and a nice bottle of red wine. We went back to our cabin to watch television for an hour or so and, particularly, the weather. It all looks set fine for our crossing on Saturday to Sifnos. Strong winds are the danger that lead to boats being cancelled.

14th April, 2011

We had rather a fitful night having eaten too much and there was a bit of roll on the ferry. We woke up in time to see it dock at Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland opposite Corfu and just below Albania. It looks a beautiful place, covered in trees. It is well know for its coastal fish farms which supply British supermarkets with Sea Bream & Bass, etc.. Here a lot of Albanians and Turks who work in Greece get off the boat to drive home for Easter.

After bacon & egg breakfast which was free because we had a De-luxe cabin, we read the paper on our Kindle and watched Greek news on television until a knock came on the door, asking us to vacate our cabin so it could be cleaned. We went out to a wi-fi area and I tried to bring my blog up to date. Unfortunately, the satellite signal was so weak, I only succeeded in deleting almost my entire week’s Blog so, if you read it day by day, you will notice it has almost completely been rewritten. Our hotel in Patras has free, superfast broadband.

We rolled off the ferry about an hour late at 3.00 pm and drove across the road to our hotel – The Patras Palace – which we have used for ten of the twelve trips we have driven to Greece. It is delightful with large, richly appointed rooms and private parking in secure grounds. This is particularly important because bands of illegal immigrants roam the port fences just waiting for their chance to slip into the back of a lorry, the boot of a car or even under the back axle. They hope to get on a boat to Italy. As we look out from our expensive hotel balcony, we see these ragamuffins lined up against the fence eyeing up an opportunity. We feel sorry for them but not that sorry. They put in enormous efforts to get to the West. They take enormous risks to get to the West. They should stay in their own countries and invest that enormous effort and appetite for risk in making their own lands fit for a good life.

Looking beyond the immigrants, we see this:

15th April, 2011

This morning we got up in leisurely fashion. I didn’t get out of bed until 8.00 am. After a huge and leisurely breakfast of toast & coffee, bacon & eggs in the roof-top restaurant, we have returned to our room to make telephone calls – using Skype – and Pauline brings her accounts up to date while I bring my Blog and website up to date.

We listen to Radio 4 all morning as ferries come in from Italy and bands of immigrants get increasingly excited. Police and army men stroll lazily around the sensitive, docking areas but immigrants are not really afraid of arrest because they are never arrested. To do so would mean far too much effort and expense housing detainees, processing and deporting them. The immigrants know this. The police and army just chase them behind the barbed wire barrier knowing that they will return again and again as soon as their backs are turned.

16th April, 2011

The Hydrofoil, – Speedrunner – leaves at 7.30 am and it takes 3 hrs to drive from Patras to Piraeus. We will check out at 3.00 am because we cannot afford to miss it. We will arrive at Kamares port, Sifnos at around 11.00 am. We will see our house for the first time in six months.

There will then be a short hiatus before we can achieve internet connection again. It may take two or three days.